Hello. It time for my review of Under the Dome. First, thank you kind readers and followers for your support.

In this episode we get to learn something about a few unexpected skill sets for our characters. In JR’s case there is a quite a turnaround from the first episode. We can debate the plausibility of his character transformation but I for one, am glad that JR is not going to just be evil psycho boy and nothing more.

1) Plot Overview for Outbreak, S104 of Under the Dome:

I have no excuse this week as I am writing this just one day after the episode, but please forgive me anyway if I miss some plot points. In this episode the townsfolk start doing what I call “convenient fainting”. Just as a character is about to spill all he/she knows about certain events or beliefs, they start to faint. I feel we may be entering into LOST territory (i.e. don’t reveal too much yet, we need to save the good stuff for the finale).

Julia has figured out that Barbie may not be telling all he knows about why he came to the town when she finds the map he used to locate the cabin where he accidentally killed her husband. Julia doesn’t realize this yet. She thinks her doctor husband was just away on a lot of trips. Well it turns out that he owed some gambling money to Barbie’s bookie employer. Barbie’s job, since leaving the military, has been an enforcer, collecting the money from deadbeat gamblers that won’t pay up. Why would a doctor have trouble paying his gambling debts? How come Julia, who is a reporter by the way, did not have seen what her husband was up to? Anyway she is no longer on speaking terms with Barbie for lying to her and asks him to leave her house. Of course this ultimatum comes right after she thanks Barbie for saving her life after she passes out at the cabin. There she found some evidence that her husband had sold off some of their property (house?) to pay his gambling debts.

Meanwhile it turns out that what caused Julia to faint was meningitis caused by the townsfolk being forced to be in close contact due to the fact that the dome is inescapable. The few who aren’t sick were vaccinated at some point in their lives. Linda the cop however was not. She comes down with it as the townsfolk are angry at the army for leaving their perimeter around the dome. Luckily her old school teacher is willing to sacrifice her life so she can get the last dose of antibiotic at the hospital. One of the moms is called into action as she has medical training as psychologist. She gives Joe and Norrie a brain scan to determine why they keep having seizures. Norrie decides they should intentionally cause a seizure and film it youtube style. When they wake up they see Joe giving the “shush” gesture on tape, which he believes means the dome wants them to keep the secret of “the pink stars falling in lines”.

Big Jim and Barbie go out to get more antibiotics and leave JR in charge of keeping the sick folks quarantined. My thoughts were simply this “Are you crazy?”. Although now that I think about it, he has done a good job keeping his girlfriend Angie from leaving the underground shelter that he has locked her in. Big Jim and Barbie find the creepy rev burning the drugs, because God wants everyone under the dome to die, so he says. Well JR does a great job and gives a pretty impassioned speech, so much so that Linda decides to make him her new deputy. Later that night, Big Jim discovers JR’s girlfriend after she opens up a water main in the shelter which Big Jim hears while in his house above the shelter.

2) New Characters

Radio DJ guy – Not exactly a new character, but we do find out the Julia’s husband sold him his car for money (to pay off Barbie’s bookie).

Norrie’s mom – We learned that she was a practicing psychologist and has medical training. She is pretty good under pressure and cares for Norrie. All good things (so far).

3) Recurring Characters

Big Jim – He gives JR a chance to prove himself (and he does). He lets the creepy rev break out of their propane deal, but I get the feeling Big Jim is just waiting to take care of him (one way or the other).

Julia – She learned that Barbie is a hero and an enforcer who lied to her. And that her husband had a gambling addiction.

Barbie – He still hasn’t admitted he killed Julia’s husband although for now that is probably the best thing for him to do.

Junior – He is no longer just a pyscho boy he may be a psycho cop in training.

Linda – May not be the best judge of character but now she has taken on the mantle of sheriff.

4) Thoughts Theories and Observations

Did you like this episode? We had lots of character twists and now Angie is free from her captivity. I guess I felt a little bit like this was an episode of Grey’s Anatomy where there were doctor’s and a bit of soapiness going on. It felt like they were really trying to expand the audience appeal in this episode and everything gets sort of neatly wrapped up. What would this show be like if it were on AMC instead of CBS I wonder.